The Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team was voted third in the Horizon League Preseason Poll, voted on by the league’s head coaches, SIDs and media members.
Milwaukee and Purdue Fort Wayne share the top spot with the Norse trailing them.
NKU returns the majority of their nucleus from an 18-15 season in 2023-24. Seven players return that played in at least 24 games while Sam Vinson returns from a season-ending knee injury that sidelined him for the year 13 games into the season. Vinson and Trey Robinson were voted to the All-League preseason first team. Robinson took home Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year honors last season, the fifth-year senior returning off a 2023-24 campaign in which he averaged 11.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.
Vinson put up 13.3 points per game in the 13 games in his junior year. The Highlands grad won Freshman of the Year in the Horizon League in 2021-22 and earned All-League third team honors during the 2022-23 season.
Keeyan Itejere returns to make three of the starting five back as the team looks to replace the scoring from the program’s all-time leading scorer, Marques Warrick who transferred to Missouri for his final year of college eligibility. Michael Bradley ran out of eligibility after coming to Highland Heights for a season.
Randall Pettus and LJ Wells should see expanded roles after seeing time both as starters and coming off the bench last season. Jeremiah Israel and Cesar Tchilombo return as key reserves while Hubertas Pivorius sat out last season after a shoulder injury, playing in 30 games during the 2022-23 season.
Depth shouldn’t be an issue for the Norse. They brought in Dan Gherezgher, Josh Dilling and Max Hyman through the transfer portal with incoming freshman Paulius Rapolis and Donovan Rakotonanahary.
Oakland is the reigning regular season and conference champion, the Golden Grizzlies pulling the upset of Kentucky in the NCAA tournament last season. They welcome back Greg Kampe for his 41st season as head coach, the longest tenured in NCAA Division I. They’re picked fourth in the preseason poll.
Wright State’s Brandon Noel collected Preseason Player of the Year honors.
Dig Deeper:
- There are five new head coaches in #HLMBB this season.
- Wright State’s Clint Sargent and Youngstown State’s Ethan Faulkner were promoted to the top jobs in the offseason.
- Mark Montgomery takes over at Detroit Mercy while Doug Gottlieb now leads Green Bay and Paul Corsaro takes the helm at IU Indianapolis.
- The regular season starts on Monday, Nov. 4 with Horizon League play scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Dec. 4.
- The 2025 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships are scheduled to culminate at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis March 10-11 with the mantra #MarchStartsHere.